Many companies are involved in conducting research into the best ways of treating and diagnosing allergies, especially food allergies. DBV-Technologies, which is based in the Paris region, has gone down the epicutaneous immunotherapy avenue. This rejects the injection or oral approach used by other companies in favour of a new delivery method, which gets antigens into the body via the skin. This is much safer (from the point of view of the likelihood of anaphylactic shock), and brings the antigens quickly into contact with the Langerhans cells, which are the body’s most tolerogenic antigen presenting cells. This characteristic makes them ideal for the tolerization approach being adopted here.
The antigens are contained in an adhesive patch with an electrostatically-charged backing, which is then applied to the patient’s skin. The patch is sprayed with the allergens in question. The electrospray technology employed ensures the layers of protein are completely even and the dry composition of the antigen means it retains its chemical properties better. The patch can be adapted to all sorts of allergies, as you can see here: http://www.dbv-technologies.com/en/products/ and involves the use of the latest technology in its manufacture and implementation (see below).